Patrick O'Rourke (1 January 1934 17 January 2011) was an Irish professional footballer who played as an

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

, most notably for

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

. O'Rourke was brought up in the

Inchicore Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchi ...

neighbourhood of

west Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, part of the Wicklow Mountains range. Dublin i ...

and played youth football for local side Bulfin United. In 1953 he signed for League of Ireland outfit

, also located in the Inchicore area. With the Saints, O'Rourke would win two league championships and two

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

s. The 1955-56 League season would see O'Rourke and strike partner

Shay Gibbons Shay Gibbons (19 May 1929 – 9 June 2006) was a Republic of Ireland international footballer who played for several League of Ireland clubs in the 1950s, most notably St Patrick's Athletic. He was League of Ireland Top Scorer on three occas ...

net a combined haul of 38 goals for the Saints. In 1958, he won two caps for the Ireland B team, one at home against South Africa B and the other away to

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. On 12 September 1961, O'Rourke was Pats only goalscorer in a 4-1 loss away to

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

in the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

. In January 2011 St Patrick's Athletic announced the death of O'Rourke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Patrick 1934 births 2011 deaths Men's association football forwards Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Association footballers from County Dublin St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Limerick F.C. players 20th-century Irish sportsmen